The Greater Good

Gloria, trying to keep herself covered with her hands, rushed to grab her underwear which lay in a crumpled heap on the bed.

‘Gloria!’ I shouted. ‘No. Come back here, you need to listen to what I have to say for a change.’

‘But I’m naked,’ she complained pointlessly. ‘You weren’t meant to be here!’

‘And you weren’t meant to be fucking yourself and calling out for Pastor Ron, but here we are.’

My stepmom stood up straight, trying to assume control of the situation. ‘Look, just delete that video and we’ll say no more about this.’

I smiled. ‘That’s not how this is going to work, Gloria,’ I said. ‘How this is going to work is that you are going to do as I say.’ She tried to look indignant for a moment, but since she was standing naked in front of me trying to shield her modesty with her hands, she failed. ‘Otherwise, Pastor Ron and everybody else in this town are going to get to see your little show.’

She knew she didn’t have a way out of this. ‘So what do you want? Money?’

‘First, you are going to give me one of your credit cards. I’m going to buy a car, and cover some other expenses so I can drive back here to check up on you. If you cancel the card or mess me around, I make the “Pastor Ron” video public.’

Gloria seemed relieved at the mention of money. She knew this was something she could manage easily.

‘Second, from now on you are going to start doing good charitable work for the church and the local community.’ Her face dropped at the idea. ‘In one week’s time, you are going to hold a big charity event. You’ll announce it today, and you’ll publicise it to get the whole town there. Between now and then you’ll collect donations of unwanted items, and then give everything to the needy.’

She seemed to relax a little. This didn’t seem so bad.

‘You will make a significant donation yourself, Gloria. For as long as there are homeless people in our society, you will highlight their plight by no longer wearing clothes. Any clothes. Your nudity will remind everybody of the imbalances in our community. So you will give all of your clothes away at the event, and you will remain naked from then on, for the greater good. I’ll be back in time to make sure you comply, or…’ I waved my phone at her.

‘This is insane!’ Gloria cried out. ‘I’ll be ostracised!’

‘You’ll be celebrated,’ I replied. ‘You’ll be a hero. You might even make the news. So you should recruit others to your cause. You don’t need to be the only one who has to be perpetually naked, that would be embarrassing. You should get the police chief, Natalie, involved. She’s hot. And also Claire, the librarian. And who is that receptionist at the country club? The one with the glasses? Yes, get her too. Oh, and can you imagine having church meetings with Pastor Ron where both of you are naked? You’d like that, wouldn’t you?’